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Mike
Beiträge: 1
Registriert: Di 16. Nov 2021, 00:47

Canadian/North American Customers

Hi,
I recently bought a Volla Phone X and tried to use it on the Koodo/Telus network here in Canada.
Text messaging, and also email and web browsing, worked satisfactorily on their 4th generation network, but the voice service did not. Technical Support did not provide any real technical support. (This may be typical, but the Koodo/Telus store they directed me to tried a lot harder).
I was confident that the phone was not faulty and was also determined to use it, so after some days of trying to get the problem resolved without success, I walked into a Fido/Rogers store. I requested that we use a Test SIM to check that the Phone X would work fully and it did.
I believe that the success is simply due to the signalling frequencies the Fido/Rogers network use.
I have not tried it with a Bell network or Freedom/Shaw network so if there are customers in Canada using these last two networks they will be helping any future Canadian customers of the Volla by confirming that there are other options besides Fido/Rogers (though I did agree a good deal by Canadian mobile industry standards).
Posting helpful advice regarding which network will support the Volla phone will save a lot of frustration to new customers.
Thanks.
Mike.
Dennis_K
Beiträge: 14
Registriert: So 20. Feb 2022, 15:52
Wohnort: Whitby, Ontario, Canada
VollaPhone mit: Volla OS 12

Follow-up: Canadian/North American Customers

Hi Mike,

Thanks for your post. I just got my new VollaPhone this past week, and am currently with VirginPlus / Bell, living in Southern Ontario (Whitby, just east of Toronto). After installing and registered a new nano-SIM, as well as registering the devices IMEI with Virgin, I still don't have any voice service at all (not even when on home wifi). Otherwise, text messaging and internet browser do work when set to only the cellular network (i.e. wifi turned off). Another forum member with Virgin (and also within the GTA) indicated that when they provided their IMEI number, everything worked fine, but for me it hasn't.

Currently chasing the issue with VirginPlus with an active service ticket, and what I'm told is that Tech Support has indicated that it's a network location issue, and is known, and is being looked into. Apparently not just specific to the VollaPhone, but the person on the phone wasn't able to elucidate further.

They indicated to monitor the situation over the next week; hopefully it will work.
einar00
Beiträge: 1
Registriert: Mo 21. Feb 2022, 15:59

Re: Canadian/North American Customers

As of 2022-02-21 my Volla phone IS working properly in all respects on Koodo in downtown Toronto. That includes data, voice, and sms. My phone is using the latest VollaOS 10.0 with the 2022 February update. The Koodo sim card worked perfectly at the first attempt, with no further configuration needed.

Previously I had the same problem of no voice service described by the others in this thread with both Public Mobile and Freedom sims, on VollaOS 9 and UB Ports.

I have had the phone for many months and have tried VollaOS, UB Ports, and Sailfish. I have almost bricked it several times but have always managed to bring it back to life, somehow, including once by using the Mediatek SP_Flash program for the Gigaset GS290. I have no idea if any of that adventure in software is relevant to it working now.

The Canadian wireless companies use various frequencies, only some accessible to the Volla phone hardware, and they are perfectly opaque about which frequencies serve which locations. It might be that what works for me here will not work 30km away in Whitby, alas.

Good luck.
Dennis_K
Beiträge: 14
Registriert: So 20. Feb 2022, 15:52
Wohnort: Whitby, Ontario, Canada
VollaPhone mit: Volla OS 12

Adventures in cellular connectivity: Canadian/North American Customers

Good day all,

Following up on my earlier post from February 20, 2022, I can now say that I finally have voice service, but had to switch to a new carrier to make it so. I'm now with Koodo Mobile (i.e. Telus), although at the beginning, it didn't work either. (I currently live east of Toronto, in Whitby, Ontario). Here are the details:

- before I went to try other carriers, I did install all the recent VollaOS (10) updates, up to and including February 1, 2022, as well as updated all the SimpleMobile tools via F-Droid to the latest versions. It was only after this extensive circus that I managed to get consistent connectivity to my MS account e-mail / calendar / contacts (via home wifi);

- I went to a Fido / Rogers store initially, and tried a SIM card from one of the clerks (they didn't have a store-designated dummy SIM), and my VollaPhone was immediately able (after a reboot) to make a voice call - so that was good;

- then I went to a nearby Koodo / Telus / Public Mobile store, and again, used the SIM card from one of the clerks (as they couldn't use their store-designated mobile SIM for this purpose), and again, the VollaPhone was able to received voice calls (i.e. it rang - which it never did before);

- I went ahead to get a Koodo SIM card and account, waited for about an hour for the number to port from my previous carrier, and then installed the SIM and turned it on. Also, the voice calling service STILL didn't work, which I found bizarre. I waited until the morning, thinking that maybe it would take a few hours to activate properly, and still nothing;

- went back to the store the next day, and aside from confirming that the APN information that was showing up on the phone was correct, they couldn't help any further, and so got Koodo customer support to call me back later in the evening. They did call, then spending a long time with Koodo Technical Support over the phone. Initially customer support just wanted me to re-set the network settings (i.e. wifi, bluetooth, mobile, etc.), which I did, but that didn't do anything different;

- when checking the SIM status (which was installed in SIM slot 1), it was noticed that some identifying information tech support was asking about (i.e. the ICC ID), was NOT indicated, although there was a blank field for such when we looked at the info for SIM slot 2 (i.e. where I had originally put a micro SD memory card);

- we switched the nano-SIM from slot 1 to slot 2 (it actually just 'sits' within a template of the larger slot on it's own - no micro-SIM adapter required), and rebooted the phone. It was THEN that I was able to receive voice calls - odd. In addition, what was different this time that was I got a VoLTE symbol at the top right of the phone status bar (black VoLTE letters in a white rectangular box), which was never there before;

- but in checking the info for SIM slot 2 at that point, we noticed that the ICC ID field was blank -- essentially all the data fields that we had seen for SIM slot 1, were just repeated for SIM slot 2;

- we went to put the nano-SIM back into SIM slot 1, and now voice calls were able to work, and again, the information that was displayed about SIM slot 1 was the same as it was originally. And the VoLTE symbol in the phone status bar still remained - which was good.

I was disappointed that it seemed that the presence of the micro-SD card in SIM slot 2 may have been interfering with the ability to make voice calls, as I really needed the storage on the phone. I later put the micro-SD card back into the phone (which had files on it), re-booted the phone, and voice calls still work, which has now been the case for a day.

I was with VirginPlus / Bell before, and try as I might (for nearly 3 weeks), I could never get voice calls to work, including reviewing the Access Point Names (APN) info on the phone, and comparing with on-line reference material. VirginPlus / Bell eventually abandoned me, saying it was the phone, and not them (although originally they said it was a 'network location issue', and were working on it, but never called back and closed the service ticket on me, twice, without notification).

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